House Of Representatives Passes Medical Marijuana Bill On 2nd Reading
MEDICAL MARIJUANA – The House Of Representatives passes the medical cannabis bill on second reading.
The House of Representatives has approved a bill on second reading that would legalize the medical use of cannabis or marijuana, which a lawmaker referred to as a “lifeline” for numerous indigent Filipino patients experiencing chronic pain.
In Wednesday’s plenary session, lawmakers voted viva voce to pass House Bill No. 10439, titled the “Act Providing the Right of Access to Medical Cannabis, Establishing the Medical Cannabis Office and Providing Funds Therefor” on second reading.
During his sponsorship speech, Robert Ace Barbers, chair of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, emphasized the importance of this measure for patients with debilitating illnesses who need legal access to medical marijuana or cannabis-based medicine.
“If you look at the last five years alone, we hear about one nation after another rewriting their history by reversing their prohibitions against cannabis and making it available as a form of medical treatment for a long list of medical conditions,” said the Surigao del Norte lawmaker.
He noted that cannabis-based medicine is legal in more than 60 countries and is used to treat a variety of medical conditions, including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, migraines, and other forms of chronic pain, including pain associated with end-stage cancer.
“In fact, in many cases, cannabis is used not as an alternative but as a last resort when all else has failed,” the lawmaker added.
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Barbers mentioned that, in addition to aiding patients with chronic pain, the measure would create a new industry, generating jobs and new revenue streams for the government.
He stated that the legalization of medical cannabis was aimed at providing patients with the same access to cannabis as they have to other pharmaceutical products.
“By no means is this bill a gateway to the recreational use of cannabis,” Barbers said.
Surprisingly, one of the bill’s strongest opponents is the Philippine Medical Association (PMA), which cautioned that passing the law would “open the floodgates for the legalization of recreational marijuana.”